Battle of Turtle Bay (3050)
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 | This article needs to be updated with material from Lethal Heritage, Era Report: 3052. Once these titles clear the Moratorium period, or if they already have, please consider revisiting this article and updating it with the new material. |
| Battle of Turtle Bay | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Clan Invasion | |||||||||
|
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| Factions | |||||||||
| Clan Smoke Jaguar | Draconis Combine | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Galaxy Commander Cordera Perez | Tai-sa Tarukito Niiro, Prince Hohiro Kurita II |
||||||||
| Forces involved | |||||||||
| 362nd Assault Cluster, Third Attack Cluster |
Fourteenth Legion of Vega | ||||||||
| Environment | |||||||||
| Plains, Urban | |||||||||
| “ | I saw the holovid of the Sabre Cat, the Smoke Jaguar flagship, lasing Edo to put an end to the riots there. I watched as missiles leveled buildings and lasers stabbed down from high orbit to melt the streets. The Sawagashii River boiled away to nothing! In a matter of minutes, a city of over a million was reduced to a charred, glassy scar on the face of the planet. How can you say I don't know what I'm asking? | ” |
| — Phelan Kell to Ulric Kerensky on the Dire Wolf, 3050 | ||
The Battle of Turtle Bay took place during the first wave of the Clan Invasion. Among those worlds which fell within the invasion corridor of Clan Smoke Jaguar, Turtle Bay was the scene of a brutal fight between the Smoke Jaguar warriors and the defending Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery. It would later become infamous as an example of the extreme brutality with which the Smoke Jaguars treated their conquered foes.
Prelude[edit]
As part of the Smoke Jaguar Clan's invasion plans, Turtle Bay was among those worlds assigned to Beta Galaxy, which entered the star system via pirate jump point. Upon their arrival Galaxy Commander Cordera Perez issued a standard Clan batchall, which was answered by Tai-sa Tarukito Niiro. The commander of the Fourteenth Legion of Vega agreed to face the invaders in the rolling meadows north of the capital city Edo, deploying every unit under his command save one. The heir apparent of the Draconis Combine, Prince Hohiro Kurita II, commanded a battalion within the Legion, but Tai-sa Niiro was unwilling to risk the welfare of the Combine's future leader. Over Hohiro Kurita's furious objections, his unit was ordered to assume defensive positions within the city itself while the rest of the Legion deployed.[1]
Battle[edit]
Tai-sa Niiro deployed his units in a broad arc around the battlefield, facing the center of a broad expanse. As he hoped the invaders, two Supernova Trinaries and an aerofighter Trinary, landed in the dead center of the battleground where his massed firepower would finish them off. Unfortunately he was unaware of the Clan's superior technology, including the longer range of their weapons, and the defenders were caught off-guard as the Smoke Jaguars 'Mechs opened fire first. Simultaneously the Clan aerospace fighters strafed a column of DCMS heavy tanks, destroying most of the armor in a single attack; Tai-sa Niiro attempted to counter with his own aerospace forces but they proved to be no match for the Clan fighters. In a move of desperation Niiro deployed his infantry, ordering them to emerge from their hidden trenches and attack the Clan OmniMechs from the rear, but the escorting Elemental forces made short work of them before any real damage was done. After several hours of fighting the Fourteenth Legion broke and retreated towards Edo, pursued by the Clan warriors.[1]
As the fleeing units approached Edo, Hohiro directed them towards the Legion's DropShips, but realizing they could not hold out against the enemy's attack he commandeered the spaceport's facilities to send a warning via satellite uplink to DCMS high command about the situation. Finally Hohiro laid as many traps as he could in the city's narrow streets and ordered his battalion to occupy hidden positions. As the Smoke Jaguars entered Edo's narrow streets Hohiro's forces began sniping from their positions, with the expectation that the attackers would withdraw to regroup. Instead the Smoke Jaguars proceeded to rampage throughout the city, destroying buildings and killing civilians in their hunt for the defenders. At the last the remnants of the Fourteenth Legion, Hohiro among them, surrendered to the Smoke Jaguars.[1]
Aftermath[edit]
The survivors of the Fourteenth Legion were imprisoned in Edo's formidable Kurushiiyama prison, though the fighting was far from over. The people of Turtle Bay resisted their new rulers, who responded in typical Smoke Jaguar fashion. In one instance a unit of Elementals was tasked with sweeping a nearby village for the culprits in the bombing of nearby barracks. They swept through the village, randomly shooting everything and demanding those responsible surrender themselves or the killings would continue. When finally an old man presented himself as the suspected bomber and pleaded that the rest of the people be spared, he was immediately killed and the village leveled, declaring anyone willing to show such signs of weakness unfit to live.[1]
However the Smoke Jaguars never realized that they had succeeded in capturing the crown prince of the Draconis Combine, that is until the local yakuza pulled off a daring rescue attempt which freed Hohiro and the remaining Legionnaires. An intensive search was immediately conducted, but the Smoke Jaguar's efforts were continually hampered as Edo's yakuza cells took every opportunity to harass the Smoke Jaguars. When rioting broke out following Hohiro Kurita's escape, Clan Smoke Jaguar dispatched a number of vehicles to control the violence, using Indra Infantry Transports to attempt to intimidate the population into submission. This ploy failed, and in the central marketplace of the city of Edo, the crowd attempted to seize control of two vehicles, prompting the crews to open fire. In less than a minute, the tanks killed five hundred people, escalating the situation even more.[2] Finally Galaxy Commander Perez ordered all Smoke Jaguar forces to withdraw from Edo, which the local resistance mistakenly took as a sign of victory. Perez ordered Beta Galaxy's WarShip, the Sabre Cat, into low orbit above the city and commanded it to open fire. Repeated strikes from the ship's autocannons and laser weapons bombarded the city until there was nothing left but smoking debris.[1][3]
Legacy[edit]
The orbital attack of the Jaguars leveled the city, killing several million people. While that attack did put an end to the rebellion, it ironically also made the Jaguars lose the planet: After that atrocity, all of the planet's residents became hostile toward the Jaguars, knowing they would die if a Jaguar decided so. For this, the Jaguars simply declared the planet pacified and refused to let a garrison remain there.[4] The bombardment had most far-reaching consequences among the Clans: It was an extreme act that even the hardline Crusaders despised, while the Wardens saw the massacre as irresponsibly immoral. In the aftermath the Smoke Jaguars would fight their own people, Perez was challenged and lost his command to Dietr Osis.[3]
This action also resulted in the removal of all Clan WarShips from further combat bids.[3] The attack was so devastating than many in the Inner sphere believed the Jaguars had used nuclear weapons.[5] This single act of brutality turned the Inner Sphere (and even many Clans) against the Jaguars. Some people who lost their families in the attack later developed a deep hatred for all the Clans, most notably Mark Castor-Davion.[citation needed]